Influx of twilight girls worry Thika traders and residents

Thika town residents and traders
have raised the alarm over an influx
of sex workers in the town.

Traders say that the twilight girls
now operate outside their shops
during the day thereby scaring their
customers away.

Thika Business District Association chairman Alfred Wanyoike lamented that most businesses along Uhuru Street are on the verge of closing as the sex workers harass customers.

“Most traders are counting losses
and are contemplating abandoning
their businesses. The sex workers
are notorious for hurling abuse at
customers,” he said

There have been incidents where the sex workers have accused passersby who of failing to pay for services and screaming, demanded money from them, Wanyokie said.

“No customer would ever go back
there,” Wanyoike said.

The chairman said that couples
passing by the route are not spared
either as the sex workers insult the
men accusing them owing them
money. “We are fed up and we’ll
force them out of the town. They
better take their filthy trade to their
homes,” he said.

Wanyoike called on the Kiambu
government to intervene and save
the genuine traders who operate
licensed businesses in the town.

He said traders are being forced
out of the town by the shameless
sex workers who are operating in
the town 24 hours a day.

“Give these people funds like the
Kiambu Jijenge funds or the wom-
en funds so that they can start their
own businesses,” he said.

A trader, Daniel Mwangi accused
the twilight girls of urinating and
leaving used condoms outside our
shops. “This has really affected us

since our customers have since left.
We plead with the relevant author-
ities to take up the matter and flush
them out,” Mwangi said.

Mwangi said that some selfish
landlords in the town encourage the
sex workers to advance their trade
by renting out rooms for as little as
Sh100.

Residents who patronise night
clubs also accuse the twilight girls
of spiking drinks with drugs and
stealing money and other valuables
from them.

Thika sub-county deputy police
commander Bernard Ayoo said that
police have been conducting swoops
day and night in the town.

“We have been arresting the sex
workers in our raids and we will
continue to do so until we get rid
of them from the town,” Ayoo said.

He said it was difficult to prefer charges against the sex workers be- cause most of them are arrested on the streets and not in the act.